March Madness 2013: Montana Grizzlies are in the NCAA Tournament

March Madness 2013: Montana Grizzlies are in the NCAA Tournament

We’ll be doing NCAA Tournament profiles for all automatic bid conference winners leading into the NCAA Tournament. See below for previous team profiles.

Conference/Record: Big Sky (25-6)

Location:Missoula, MT

Famous Alums/Attendees: Current Realhusband of Atlanta and NFL player Kroy Biermann, NBA and College Coach Larry Krystkowiak, and Actor JK Simmons

Social Media: The official twitter account for the Grizzlies is @UMGRIZZLIES_BB.

Random Fun Fact: Rolling Stone Magazine once labeled the university as the “Most Scenic Campus in America”

Tournament History/Most Recent: This will be the Grizzlies 10th NCAA Tournament appearance, and their third since 2010. They lost in the round of 64 to Wisconsin last year.

Good Wins/Bad Losses: Despite their gaudy record, Montana played an incredibly weak schedule (#267 on SevenOT, #300 on KenPom, #203 RPI). Their best wins include a road win vs. Idaho (#163) and home wins against Weber St.

Notable Player(s): Many of the better mid and low major teams are centered around one star player (Iona, Bucknell, S Dakota St), but this Montana team has a “Big Three” of their own. Mathias Ward, Kareem Jamar, and Will Cherry all average 14 points per game, and lead the team in minutes played. Jamar and Cherry average 4 assists per game each, while sharp-shooting Ward averages 50% from the floor, 82% from the line, and 40% on 3s.

Outlook/Seed: No need to project their seed anymore (they’re a #13), playing Syracuse at 10pm ET in San Jose. The lines in Vegas would say Syracuse has a 80-90% chance of winning the game, the SevenOT predictions gives Montana a slightly better chance.